diff --git a/docs/build-apps/setup/python.md b/docs/build-apps/setup/python.md
index bb73e2d52f..91e43c0fc4 100644
--- a/docs/build-apps/setup/python.md
+++ b/docs/build-apps/setup/python.md
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ If you need the ML model service, install with the optional dependency:
 pip install 'viam-sdk[mlmodel]'
 ```
 
+For OpenTelemetry request tracing in a Python module, install the `tracing` extra:
+
+```sh {class="command-line" data-prompt="$"}
+pip install 'viam-sdk[tracing]'
+```
+
+See [OpenTelemetry distributed tracing](/data/overview/#opentelemetry-distributed-tracing) for how to enable it.
+
 ## Configure credentials
 
 Create a `.env` file in your project root:
diff --git a/docs/data/overview.md b/docs/data/overview.md
index 27a0262e66..15569a70fe 100644
--- a/docs/data/overview.md
+++ b/docs/data/overview.md
@@ -121,6 +121,81 @@ For local development, see the [Jaeger getting started guide](https://www.jaeger
 
 You can combine multiple destinations (for example, `"disk": true` and `"otlpendpoint": "<collector-host>:4317"` together).
 
+#### Trace your module's methods
+
+When tracing is enabled, each incoming component or service method call in your module opens its own span, nested under the RPC that triggered it.
+Reading a camera, for example, produces a `GetImage` span under the caller's request span, so you can see how long that method takes as part of the whole request.
+
+The Go, Python, and C++ SDKs all create these per-method spans.
+`viam-server` sets the `VIAM_MODULE_TRACING` environment variable on each module process when tracing is enabled in the machine config.
+The SDK inside the module records spans only when that variable is set.
+You enable tracing once in the `tracing` config block above, and individual modules pick it up.
+
+Go modules record per-method spans automatically.
+Python and C++ modules each need one more step, described below.
+
+#### Enable tracing in a Python module
+
+Python module tracing is an opt-in extra.
+Install `viam-sdk` with the `tracing` extra so the module has the OpenTelemetry packages it needs:
+
+```sh {class="command-line" data-prompt="$"}
+pip install 'viam-sdk[tracing]'
+```
+
+Add this extra to your module's dependencies (for example, in `requirements.txt`) so it is present wherever the module runs.
+
+The extra is the only change your module needs.
+With the extra installed and tracing enabled in the machine config, each component and service method your module implements emits a span, and the module sends those spans to `viam-server`.
+Without the extra installed, tracing stays off and your module runs unchanged.
+
+#### Enable tracing in a C++ module
+
+C++ tracing has two requirements: you build the SDK with OpenTelemetry support, and, as with Go and Python, tracing is enabled on `viam-server` in the machine config.
+Compiling with OpenTelemetry support alone records nothing until the module runs under a `viam-server` that has tracing enabled; a build without OpenTelemetry support compiles the tracing calls as no-ops.
+
+How you enable the build support depends on how you build the SDK:
+
+- **With Conan:** the `opentelemetry_tracing` option is on by default.
+  It pulls in `opentelemetry-cpp` with the OTLP gRPC exporter and compiles tracing into the SDK.
+  To build without tracing, set the option off (`-o opentelemetry_tracing=False`).
+- **With CMake directly:** the `VIAMCPPSDK_OPENTELEMETRY_TRACING` option is off by default.
+  Turn it on with `-DVIAMCPPSDK_OPENTELEMETRY_TRACING=ON`, and provide `opentelemetry-cpp` (built with the OTLP gRPC exporter) as a dependency.
+
+Because tracing must be compiled in, prebuilt SDK packages and the [cloud build](/cli/build-and-deploy-modules/#cloud-builds) image do not include it.
+Build the SDK from source with the option above to record spans from a C++ module.
+
+To trace a section of your own code inside a method, create a child span with `TracingSpan` from `<viam/sdk/tracing/span.hpp>`.
+The span begins when you construct it and ends when it leaves scope, so scope it to the region you want to measure:
+
+```cpp
+#include <viam/sdk/tracing/span.hpp>
+
+ProtoStruct MySensor::get_readings(const ProtoStruct&) {
+    TracingSpan span("readings implementation");
+    span.set_attribute("multiplier", multiplier_);  // attach structured context
+    span.add_event("computing signal");
+    // your logic here
+    span.set_status_ok();
+    return {{"signal", multiplier_}};
+}
+```
+
+`TracingSpan` also provides `set_status_error()`, `record_exception()` and `record_unknown_exception()` to mark a failure, and `end()` to end the span before it leaves scope.
+You cannot copy or move a `TracingSpan`.
+
+This span nests under the automatic `GetReadings` span for the call, and the SDK exports it over OTLP gRPC to the destination you set in the `tracing` config block above.
+If the SDK is built without OpenTelemetry support, every `TracingSpan` call is a no-op and the code runs unchanged.
+
+#### Use traces to find latency and failures
+
+Because each method span nests under the request that called it, a trace shows where time goes across service boundaries.
+If a `Move` request is slow, expand its trace to see whether the delay is in the arm's `GetJointPositions` span, a vision service's `GetDetections` span, or the network between them.
+A method that returns an error marks its span with an error status, so a failed span points to the method and machine that returned the failure.
+
+Retrieve and inspect traces with the `viam traces` CLI commands.
+See [Traces](/monitor/troubleshoot/#traces) and [Work with traces](/cli/manage-your-fleet/#work-with-traces).
+
 See [Trigger on data events](/data/trigger-on-data/) and [Visualize data](/data/visualize-data/).
 
 ## Manage data volume